Bacon considered the ludicrous too intellectual to be called a "passio"
or emotion. It has commonly been regarded as almost an intuitive
faculty. We speak of "seeing" humour, and of having a "sense" of the
ludicrous. We think that we have a sense in other matters, where
reflection is not immediately perceptible, as when in music or painting
we at once observe that a certain style produces a certain effect, and
that a certain means conduces to a certain end. This recognition seems
to be made intuitively, and from long habit and constant observation we
come to acquire what appears like a sense, by which without going
through any reasoning process we give opinions upon works of Art. The
judgment acts from habit so imperceptibly that it is altogether
overlooked, and we seem almost to have a natural instinct. We are often
as unconscious of its exercise as of the changes going on in our bodily
constitution. The compositor sets his types without looking at them; the
mathematician solves problems "by inspection," and a well-known
physiologist told me he had seen a man read a book while he kept three
balls in the air. At times we seem to be more correct when acting
involuntarily than when from design. We have heard it said that, if you
think of the spelling of a word, you will make a mistake in it, and many
can form a good judgment on a subject who utterly fail when they begin
to specify the grounds on which it is founded.
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